DHS Spies On Leftists; Gamblers Bet On Natural Disasters | Friday Roundup
Sources
Leingang, Rachel. Trump ally loses, mixed results for progressives: takeaways from primaries in Minnesota, Wisconsin and beyond. The Guardian. August 12, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/12/primary-election-takeaways-republicans-democrats
Elections 2026, CNN Politics, https://edition.cnn.com/election/2026?election-data-id=2026-GD&election-painting-mode=single-party-candidates&filter-key-races=false&filter-flipped=false&filter-remaining=false
Solender, Andrew. Older Democrats walloped by midterms anti-establishment revolt. Axios. August 13, 2026, https://www.axios.com/2026/08/13/democrats-old-age-larson-bronin-young-primaries
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is leaving the Trump administration. AP News. August 12, 2026. https://apnews.com/article/trump-press-secretary-leavitt-dc3753a957b05ef554bf277221d9cf46?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Greene, Connor. Who Might Replace Karoline Leavitt as Press Secretary? Time. August 13, 2026. https://time.com/article/2026/08/13/karoline-leavitt-press-secretary-replacement-potential-candidates/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial
Durkin Richer, Alanna. Blanche seeks to rally a depleted Justice Department workforce in first speech as attorney general. AP News. August 13, 2026. https://apnews.com/article/todd-blanche-justice-department-speech-417872ffdf59331cf781c160a5a46d98?utm_source=app&utm_medium=iOS_share&utm_campaign=copy_link
LIVE: Trump signs executive order calling for spacing out childhood vaccines. AP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ztXcKmYR0M
Bendix, Aria. Trump order aims to cut number of diseases all children should be vaccinated against from 18 to 11. NBC News. August 10, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/trump-order-fewer-childhood-vaccines-rcna591774
Reynolds, Cole. Polymarket let users bet on wildfires. Lawmakers warn that could spur arson. The Washington Post. August 12, 2026. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/08/12/polymarket-let-users-bet-wildfires-lawmakers-warn-that-could-spur-arson
'Shock' gloves for US immigration agents fuel potential abuse fears. France 24. August 14, 2026. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260814-shock-gloves-for-us-immigration-agents-fuel-potential-abuse-fears
Lovan, Dylan. White House border czar defends ICE electric shock gloves as tools to avoid deadly force. August 14, 2026. https://apnews.com/article/ice-electric-shock-gloves-d29adffffd08fc95d7bbef618ddce52f
US Attorney confirms no meth was found in van of Texas man shot by immigration officers. AP News. August 14, 2026. https://apnews.com/article/houston-salgado-ice-shot-killed-homebuilder-16dc563c5b602518e8a670f342ff3e9f
Rogelberg, Sasha. The electric shock gloves ICE is spending up to $20 million on are already being given to police officers in Omaha public schools. August 13, 2026. https://fortune.com/2026/08/13/ice-electric-shock-gloves-omaha-nebraska-public-schools/?utm_source=reddit/
Mancini, Ryan. Third detainee dies after medical emergency at New Jersey ICE facility. August 13, 2026. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6028963-third-death-new-jersey-delaney-hall-ice/
Levin, Sam. US conducted ‘mass spying campaign’ against leftwing groups and anti-ICE protesters, records reveal. The Guardian. August 14, 2026. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/13/us-government-spied-anti-ice-protesters
Transcript
People are making money by betting on the outcome of natural disasters now so, we’ve really reached a new low. The state primaries gave us some first indicators of what’s to come in the midterms. Trump says babies don’t need so many jabs meanwhile measles cases are soaring. And ICE agents might soon be deployed with shock gloves so they can taze you with the touch of a finger. It’s Friday, August 14th, 2026, happy birthday to my mom who never misses an episode, you’re tuned in to WHY AMERICA? This is a Friday headlines roundup.
Primaries
First, a number of states held primary elections this week, with some definitive wins for the growing left flank of the Democratic party. Just so we’re clear, the elections held this week were state primaries, so they determined who will be on the final ticket in the November midterms which are somehow only 3 months away?? This is, of course, deeply important because who wins in November will determine the ideological makeup of the Congress which has been Republican controlled and mostly nonfunctioning since Trump took office. People are hoping for a massive backlash against the deeply unpopular MAGA policies, and the successes seen from the likes of Zohran Mamdani, who is the darling of the left across the country and around the world, has hopes of a resurgence from the progressive flank of the Democratic party. Last week, in the Michigan primary, Democratic Socialist Abdul El-Sayed, who received criticism for doing things like allowing Hasan Piker to stump for him, among other things, definitively won his primary against his opponent despite AIPAC, the Israeli political action committee, spending MILLIONS to try to defeat him.
First, some bad news, in Wisconsin, the progressive state lawmaker Francesca Hong narrowly lost to David Crowley, a county executive from Milwaukee. Crowley received the endorsement of the Democratic Governor Tony Evers. Hong lost to Crowley by fewer than 4000 votes. This is an example of where votes really really count, and it’s at the local level, during primaries, when the fewest number of people vote. Crowley will face off in November against Representative Tom Tiffany for the Wisconsin governor’s race. Tiffany has Trump’s endorsement, so this will be the more establishment Democratic candidate against the MAGA candidate. And that’s an example of the simplified terms people are looking at the elections in November–it’s seen as a referendum on both MAGA and on the Democratic establishment. So will the establishment candidate be able to beat MAGA? Will the progressive candidate be able to beat MAGA? For example, in Michigan, Democratic Socialist Adbul El-Sayed will face off against Trump-backed Mike Rogers and the Senatorial race in Michigan could determine the control of the Senate, so that is the race most will be watching in November and it’s being painted as the definitive contest to see whether progressives can beat MAGA candidates, which could then determine the strategy going into the 2028 presidential elections.
In my home state of Minnesota, Mike Lindell, yes the My Pillow guy, lost the Republican primary for governor to Lisa Demuth, the current speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives. People are touting this as a major loss for Trump’s far right MAGA goons but the MY PILLOW GUY still got solidly 33% of the primary vote. One third of voters were like yup that’s my guy. It’s always one third, I feel like that stat needs to be studied why do a third of people stick with the conspiracy theorists no matter what. Anyway, Amy Klobuchar won the democratic primary for governor and is expected to easily win against Lisa Demuth in November.
For Minnesota Senator, the progressive candidate Peggy Flanagan, won the primary against the centrist Angie Craig who in the past has accepted money from AIPAC and who outspent Peggy Flanagan 4 to 1 on ad spending during this primary. Flanagan served as deputy governor under Tim Walz and there was a brief moment in Minnesota where we thought we might get her as our governor and Tim Walz as our Vice President and those were a nice few days of hope. Flanagan will run against Republican nominee Michele Tafoya, a former NFL sideline reporter. If she wins, Flanagan will be the first Native American woman to serve in the US Senate.
In Connecticut, 47 year old Luke Bronin beat incumbent Representative John Larson for the Democratic nomination despite the fact that 78 year old Larson has represented the district since 1999. Since LITERALLY THE LAST CENTURY. See how all these elections are an allegory for something else. So the Connecticut race is symbolic of younger Democrats taking the reins from the older ones and whether Bronin wins will be a test of whether the new guard younger Democrats can actually win elections. But Bronin isn’t the only younger Democrat to oust the older ones. In fact, according to Axios, 2026 is tied with 2012 as the worst year for Democratic incumbents in primaries this century. In Colorado, Michigan, New York, and Texas, incumbent Democrats lost to younger newer candidates, many of them aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America. I mean it was bound to happen, these people were all past retirement age and people do eventually have to stop working, but it’s not like they’re universally getting beaten by 20 year olds. It’s mostly millennials. Other than AOC, we’ve been waiting for literal decades to take over control. According to analysis from Axios, it was the combination of a younger candidate and progressive policy that won most younger candidates their primaries. So younger candidates that were centrist tended to do poorly. A number of older candidates managed to hold out despite being challenged from younger, more centrist democrats. Which is I think a good way of showing how the news and election analysts are always looking for THE STORY and THE ANGLE and THE BIG TAKEAWAY to put in their headlines to make you click on them, but the reality is that in a country as huge as the US with as many different nuances in each and every race, there’s only so much you can take away from any one election, which is just a snapshot of a very specific place, a very specific group of voters, at a very specific time. And you can’t put a lot of stock in the political polls, which again are really great for creating headlines and buzz but actually don’t often get it right. Just food for thought.
Next, to the executive branch, which has been up to no good as per usual.
AD
Summer is here and, as the weather gets hotter than ever, literally, having some high quality basics that I can turn to over and over again is essential for me. But I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel or buy pieces that are gonna fall apart in a couple months. Finding clothes and home goods that are made to last is nearly impossible these days. And the sourcing and ethics behind some of the most popular brands is… questionable, at best, and overwhelming to keep track of. That’s why I love to keep it simple and find long-lasting items I can use year after year from Quince, my partner on today’s video. From 100% Grade A mongolian cashmere and buttery soft bamboo bedding to velvet curtains and cast iron Dutch ovens and more, Quince brings the high-end essentials I need all together in one place, including transparent information about sourcing and ethics that is impossible to find from other brands. By cutting out the middlemen and the traditional markups, Quince delivers the same quality as luxury brands at a fraction of the price. Their products are consistently rated between 4.5 and 5 stars and include rave reviews from people who actually bought these items and loved them enough to write glowing reviews, which I find really helpful while shopping. I have been loving their ultra stretch tapered cargo pants–they hit that sweet spot of soft and comfy but they still look like real, structured pants. Secret soft pants, I like to call them. I’m currently wearing their organic cotton microrib crewneck tee under their chambray tencel long sleeve shirt–a couple super simple basics that are easy to layer. And they even have really great travel essentials. I recently took a trip to DC and brought along their Water Repellent Puff Commuter Backpack, which has a ton of really handy different compartments. I wore it on a hot day and did about 30,000 steps and was comfortable the whole time with this on my back. These are the types of basics I get from Quince that I keep turning to again and again. And you can upgrade your wardrobe, home, and more with high-end essentials from Quince, too. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or Go to quince dot come slash leeja now to get free shipping and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada AND the UK, too. That’s Q U I N C E dot com slash leeja. Thanks to Quince for partnering with me on today’s video!
Leavitt Steps Down
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has announced that she will be stepping down from her role as Press Secretary. She just had her second child, her first is 2, and she said she can’t be a good mom while also being press secretary. And therein lies the trap of being a MAGA woman. There’s a lot you can say about Karoline Leavitt but that lady is ambitious and she clearly loves her job, like in between attempting to furrow her botoxed brow at Washington Post reporters, she’s always positively beaming. But her role will always ultimately be mother, and I believe in freedom of choice and I support anyone’s decision to put their kids over their career but this woman is fucking ruthless and the fact that she has to give this all up and go sit at home with a couple snotty toddlers makes me heavily doubt this is what she would choose for herself if she wasn’t bound and gagged by the shackles of MAGA. Trump claimed she’ll remain one of his top advisors, so I guess she’ll be able to send him some texts from the nursery. Trump made no indication who might replace her, though it’s being reported that the frontrunner is his former defense attorney Alina Habba, whomst you might recognize from his hush money trial or, more recently, for her role as interim US attorney for New Jersey who was forced to step down after a court found she’d been unlawfully appointed. Scott Jennings, the MAGA goon you see frequently fighting with hosts on CNN, is also at the top of the list to replace Leavitt. I imagine Trump will be moving quickly to pick SOMEONE since he is obsessed with the press and making sure there’s someone doing the rounds for him on Fox and Friends at all times.
Blanche Named AG
Todd Blanche was narrowly voted in as Attorney General by the Senate last weekend, two Republicans opposed his confirmation, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. He will now lead a Justice Department that has actively targeted people based on Trump’s whim and his list of imagined enemies, and that has pushed out anyone insufficiently loyal to the Trump agenda. Blanche is a perfect pick for Trump–having literally been his personal attorney, Blanche was the guy who defended him and ultimately lost him his Hush Money case, which should indicate to you how good Blanche is as a Trump handler–the fact that he lost him his criminal defense case and yet still remains in Trump’s good graces is frankly an impressive feat and one that does not bode well for the future of the Department of Justice–this is a man who, first and foremost, knows how to keep Trump happy, and his entire career now rests on his ability to continue keeping him happy.
Cut to Childhood Vax Recs
Trump signed an executive order on Monday that recommends dropping the list of vaccine requirements for children from 18 to 11 different vaccinations, citing no new data to support the changes. It also recommends that vaccinations be administered across multiple medical visits, dramatically increasing the number of times parents would need to bring their kids in, making the whole thing that much more expensive and prohibitive for parents. One of the more batshit provisions of the order suggests that the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella, be separated into three shots and given separately, even though individual shots for those vaccines literally don’t exist in the US and there’s no evidence in existence to support the idea that they need to be separated. Trump said during the announcement about the executive order that he’d just heard they could be dangerous. He also reiterated that they all cause autism which, for the record, has never been proven despite decades of research.
“In many cases, we're requiring 72 jabs for our beautiful, healthy, lovely, delicate little children https://www.youtube.com/live/2ztXcKmYR0M?si=K8oRCKdvy3Kv1KLg Just a reminder that this man has been credibly accused of raping children. But I digress.
This executive order supports the major roll back of vaccinations that RFK Jr’s HHS attempted to do back in January but that have been stopped by lawsuits. Specifically, they say kids no longer need to get vaccinated against the flu, rotavirus, which is a diarrheal disease that can lead to extreme dehydration and hospitalization and used to hospitalize thousands of kids every winter, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningitis, and RSV. Back in 2025 they also removed the requirement for kids to get vaccinated against COVID. In making these changes they didn’t allow for public discussion, a review of data, and without input from the typical advisory bodies of experts that would normally happen before any announcement like this. Instead, officials claimed that the US is an outlier among “peer nations” and recommends too many vaccines. The problem is that that’s not true, for example France recommends like 15 different immunizations for children, and also it is not good public health policy to simply look at what other countries do. Public health policies need to be made based on data about the public whose health you are creating policy for, not the public health decisions made by other countries. According to Trump officials, this doesn’t impact parents who WANT the vaccines for their children, they can still ask for them, receive them, and insurance will cover them, they are just no longer recommended by the CDC. Further, it is states, not the federal government, that have the power to actually enforce vaccination requirements for schoolchildren, so many states are creating their own rules and their own alliances amongst themselves to determine proper vaccines for children. So that means more confusion for parents and a patchwork of recommendations across the country that are less determined by science and the recommendations of experts and more determined by what side of the political spectrum the state falls on. You don’t have to be a public health policy expert to know that’s not the best way to create public health policy in a country of 330 million people who are all getting on planes and interacting and moving around and crossing state lines while preventable diseases like Measles are spreading and more and more kids are being exempted from vaccinations. This will increase division because imagine you live in Texas and believe in vaccinating your kids–you’re probably going to think twice before even letting your children interact with the children of Republicans because they could catch measles and die.
On to the environment which is arguably the biggest story out of all of these, because as we squabble over details we are continuing to barrel ahead towards a world that is less and less habitable.
It’s hot as balls
Some of you commented that I look tan in my last video, which frankly is all the scientific proof I need to know that something is very wrong. Yes, I moved to IRELAND and got a TAN. Hello? The emerald isle is literally on fire. The gardens at buckingham palace and hyde park in London are brown. California is on fire, as well, with at least three major fires having burned tens of thousands of acres of land, displaced around 65,000 people, and are barely contained. And while all of this is happening, Polymarket, the online betting platform that allows users to bet on current events, meaning they can bet money and win money if they correctly guess what’s going to happen or not happen, is allowing people to bet on the outcomes of these wildfires. This isn’t new, people wagered over $1 million dollars on the LA fires last year. What’s even more wild is that Polymarket doesn’t allow US-based users to wager bets on the outcomes of US-based wildfires, only international users can do that. A group of Democratic Senators have sent a strongly worded letter to Michael Selig, the chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, warning that allowing people to bet on things might lead to arson or other interference against stopping the blazes as people attempt to influence outcomes so they can WIN MORE MONEY. Like this is some of the most dystopian shit I’ve read about in a long time this is so fucking bleak. And there is evidence already that people with inside knowledge about what Trump is going to do next have won tens of thousands of dollars on these prediction markets by betting on things like whether Trump would bomb Iran and other geopolitical moves. Polymarket was banned from the US until 2025 when it came out with a CFTC-compliant version of the app, which has led to an explosion in popularity and Congressional investigations. The fact that we have to investigate anything here is fucking wild. I have actually been propositioned by more than one prediction market betting platforms to do ads for them on YouTube, obviously I have said no, but the first time I was asked to do an ad was actually years ago and I had never heard of them and was fucking shocked to see like no one in their right mind looks at an app that lets you bet on current events and doesn’t immediately see how fucked up that is.
And Polymarket had the AUDACITY, in a statement to the Washington Post, to say that people turn to Polymarket for information and that “removing these markets does not prevent a tragedy but makes the most accurate information less accessible to the people who need it most.” And Polymarket does that, apparently. Like no one is even trying to hide their corruption anymore we have completely lost the plot as a society we’re fucking toast.
On to immigration, where the parade of horribles just keeps keeping on.
ICE Wants Shock Gloves
The Associated Press reported that DHS plans to spend 10 to 20 million dollars on Shock Gloves for ICE agents. Shock gloves are exactly what they sound like, gloves that agents can wear that deliver an electric shock to anyone they touch. It’s claimed that the shock is less than a taser. They’ve been using these gloves for four years at a county jail in Bardstown, Kentucky, which reports that they’re helpful for de-escalation. The devices were also issued to Omaha Nebraska’s police department to be used in public schools last year. In fact, according to NPR more than 50 police departments across 20 states are using these electric shock gloves. And now they may become standard issue to a federal goon squad near you that has already proven itself incapable of managing the “less lethal” weapons they already have. The potential for abuse and misuse is huge, they could be used against vulnerable people and lead to death even though they’re technically “less lethal.” They could be used at random. And given how little training ICE agents are getting there’s no way they wouldn’t be misused. And it just adds insult to injury that after they continue to murder people in the streets and in ICE detention centers across the country, the feds are talking about spending 20 million dollars to give them MORE tools to oppress and abuse people with. Speaking of abuse…
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo
Last month, ICE agents chased the white work van of a man named Lorenzo Salgado Araujo through the streets of Houston, eventually stopping him and fatally shooting him through his window, much like they did to Renee Good in Minneapolis this winter. He had no criminal record, had been in the US for 35 years, and ran a home construction business. DHS of course initially claimed Salgado Araujo was using his van as a weapon against the ICE officers. Then they changed their story saying officers mis-identified him but there was suspicious baggies of crystal-like substance in the car when they searched it. Test results came back from that substance this week confirming it was not meth, as ICE had claimed. Salgado Araujo’s family, since the beginning, has said the baggies contained a homemade electrolyte mix that Lorenzo made to keep himself and his workers hydrated while at building sites in the Houston heat. Of course this and the name Lorenzo Salgado Araujo does not get the same press coverage as the deaths of the white people in Minnesota. Which is why knowing about this and saying their names and recognizing the crime of their murder at the hands of ICE is an ongoing and worthwhile thing.
Third ICE Detainee Dies in NJ
Relatedly, yesterday it was reported that a THIRD person died in ICE custody at Delaney Hall in New Jersey. Delaney Hall is the site of ongoing anti-ICE protests where ICE tear gassed a sitting US Senator a few months ago. There are ongoing lawsuits and reports coming out of the facility that indicate the conditions inside amount to cruel and unusual punishment, though officials have repeatedly barred elected representatives from entering and touring the facility and have tried to undercut and disparage the word of the detained and their lawyers and families who repeatedly report that people being held inside, who, as I always like to remind you, are not criminals, are not being held as criminals, are being held as part of the civil immigration process, they are not getting access to sanitary hygiene and bathroom facilities, are not getting adequate food, they’re literally starving them, the food they do get has had maggots in it, the list goes on. And people are, understandably, dying from these conditions. A third person reportedly died last month, though it was only reported yesterday. A common complaint coming from inside Delaney Hall also is that people are not receiving the medication they have been prescribed and are not getting access to proper medical care. The latest death went unreported because, after having a seizure in ICE custody, ICE dropped the man, Jose Chajon-Raxon, at a medical facility and washed their hands of him. Because he died at the hospital and not inside the ICE facility, ICE claims they bear no responsibility for his death. And I think this is important to note that ICE is willing to do anything it can to avoid responsibility, to put one layer of plausible deniability in place so they can claim they’re not at fault. They treat detained people as disposable and drop them the second there’s a whiff that they might become a liability. Cruelty is an understatement.
ICE Spies On Leftists
And a new DHS internal investigative report which came out as part of the ongoing criminal case against 15 anti-ICE protesters in Minnesota has revealed that the federal government deployed extensive spy networks to spy on prominent left-wing organizers and groups in Minnesota this winter during operation metro surge. According to the report, undercover agents were sent to community meetings in the Twin Cities and sent to infiltrate the Signal chats of unions and left-wing groups. They attended trainings, community meetings, secretly recorded audio at these events, and recorded the license plates of attendees. The reports themselves indicate they were inspired by NSPM-7, Trump's directive last year to investigate left wing “antifa” groups.
Mike German is a former FBI agent who was interviewed by the Guardian. His insight was interesting. The article said that Mike German quote “said it was striking that DHS was leading the investigations when typically the FBI would spearhead operations targeting potential “terrorist” activity. He said it was also notable that DHS was using administrative subpoenas, which don’t require judicial authorization, to obtain records.
The government, German said, also appeared to be relying on theories of “guilt by association” to justify surveillance instead of narrower investigations focused on specific alleged criminal activity. German, who previously served as an undercover agent, further scoffed at the notion of undercover agents spying on what appeared to be accessible, community events.
“You’re talking about meetings that are open to the public, where they are recruiting among the public, saying: ‘Please come to this protest,’” he said. “It’s hardly a challenge to ‘infiltrate’ this kind of meeting, and that should be a clue this isn’t a criminal group. It’s very rare for criminals to [publicize] discussion of their criminal activities.”
The investigations, he added, fit patterns in US history of the government targeting leftwing activist and labor organizing. After 9/11, he said, those powers to spy on communities were greatly expanded.
“Nobody should be surprised that the government would use these authorities to target political opposition rather than target criminals, particularly so under this administration,” he said.”
I think there’s a lot to learn about the government’s tactics from these so-called “antifa” trials, the work that these defense attorneys are doing to get the government to tell us what they’re doing and produce documentary proof, is really important, so this is something worth continuing to pay attention to.
To support my work, please consider joining on Patreon to get all these episodes completely ad free. Thank you to my multi-platinum patrons Christopher Cowan, Marc, Sarah Shelby, Art, David, L’etranger (Lukus), Thomas Johnson, and Tay. Your generosity makes this channel what it is, so thank you!
Be sure to check out my video from Wednesday doing a deep dive into the Red Scare.
